The mission of the Design & Innovation Award is to shape the bicycle world in a positive way. It also serves as a forum for creativity, visionary ideas as well as the industry’s most innovative products. More than 40 experts from 10 countries joined this year’s event to test, analyze and judge the best and most innovative products of 2016 in Kronplatz/San Vigilio – Dolomites. The Gold Award recognises either perfect product design and function, or innovation that sets a new standard and inspires future product generations and forward-thinking approaches.
The bike category is dead! In these exciting times, bikes are blurring the lines between the traditional definitions; there are even exemplary bikes that offer so much potential they simply refuse to be defined at all. One perfect example is the new Open U.P., the ‘Unbeaten Path’– a bike defined as “GravelPlus,” but which offers so much more. Compatible with 700c road, gravel, and cross wheels (up to 40 mm width) and 650b mountain bike tires up to 2.1 inches wide. Is it a mountain bike for a roadie, or a road bike for a mountain biker? Or something entirely new?
The design is beautifully crafted: a dropped chainstay allows for a super-compact 420 mm rear end, resulting in stiff and responsive power transfer, while ultra-thin seatstays add a degree of vertical compliance. A Syntace 12 mm thru axle adds more lateral stiffness to the rear for off-road action. The frame is drop-dead gorgeous too: internal cable routing keeps the lines clean, while the striking colour scheme demands attention everywhere it goes. With relaxed and versatile geometry, the Open U.P. is more than a blending of genres, it’s a study in versatility offering endless possibilities, carving out a unique identity all its own.Never have the polar-opposite worlds of mountain biking and road biking been so connected. The Open U.P. is a bike that lives up to its name, opening up previously unridden gravel roads and singletrack where the adventure can continue, taking riders far from the very real dangers of traffic and onto the beautiful network of unexplored trails and tracks.
Price: € 2900 | Weight: 8.26kg | opencycle.com | Photos: Christoph Bayer, Fabian Rapp
Find out more about the other winners of the Design & Innovation Award 2016.
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